I think it’s pretty obvious that this is an attempt at extortion.
Four Irish men walk into a bar. But this isn’t the first line of a joke. As hundreds of pub landlords are finding out, it can instead mark the start of a very modern nightmare.
Gary Sidwell is a case in point. He runs The Purley Arms, an old-school boozer in a working-class neighbourhood of South Croydon.
Here, his ordeal began on a Wednesday afternoon in October last year, when young, burly Brian Mongan visited the premises, accompanied by his brother Pete and their friends Paddy and Tom McDonagh.
What happened next is now the subject of an escalating legal battle, with Gary’s entire livelihood riding on its outcome.
It revolves around a single, undisputed fact: that Mongan and his mates left The Purley Arms about 60 seconds after walking in. And a thorny question: why?
Gary says he refused to serve the group because of their strange behaviour. Mongan and his chums say he booted them out for a very different reason. One that could now cost him money. Lots and lots of money.
These shysters targeted multiple establishments with this scam, which is why it is obviously a scam. Any crook with a degree of intellect would have played it small and spread the risk, but these twats bombarded the area. What is worse, though, having been on the receiving end, is that lawyers will happily enable this behaviour.
The answer to this type of scam is to call their bluff, as at least one publican has, by not responding to the letters. I would respond. I would call them on the scam, point out that I would not be paying and if they wanted, they could take me to court. Court costs – we are looking at tens of thousands of pounds at the very least. No, I can’t afford that and nor can the publicans, but it is also a huge risk for the plaintiff. Bear in mind that the game is up as once a pattern emerges, there is evidence of a concerted campaign. It would get thrown out of court., However, there is plenty of evidence of conspiracy to justify criminal charges against the scammers and their solicitors – who should at the very least be disbarred from their profession.
So, yes, – see you in court and I’m not paying one penny piece is the appropriate response. Oh, and these travellers are not a different race, they are just criminal scum.
No different from their usual method of extortion, to occupy a piece of land, behave obnoxiously to the local neighbourhood and then demand money with menaces for leaving.
You say scam
I say you’re bang on the money
Why is it that so many of our overeducated and overpromoted ‘betters’ refuse to see that.
@ Phil Day. They do see it, but know it annoys the plebs, so are content to let it happen.
If lots of pubs have been targeted, it would make sense for them to join forces to fight this. In any case, if they are doing this stuff everywhere, I would have thought that it would be obvious to anyone that they were running a racket.
Yes, they should act jointly. Tell them to fuck off and they aren’t getting a penny.
Is there no Pubwatch in Croydon?
They are nothing compared to the money generating scams that our politicians have set up.
I feel so sorry for the law firm who have unwittingly been dragged into this.
They clearly have no reason to suspect that the numerous identical laws suits are an enormous scam. After all, who amongst us have not filed multiple identical law suits for carbon copy incidents that happened on the same day, in the same town, a few minutes apart.
There can be no doubt what so ever about the honesty, integrity and high ethical standards of all involved.